Page 150 of Safe Word

The gun…

Fuck!

It was in my goddamn purse – and the purse was in the bloody kitchen!

A strangled sound escaped my throat, half a sob, half a scream. How could I have been so careless? How could I have let myself feel safe for even a second?

I grabbed fistfuls of my hair, the panic consuming me as my vision blurred with tears. My lungs seized, my thoughts spiralling, and I realised… I realised I was still clutching my phone!

My hands trembled violently as I unlocked the screen, my thumb fumbling to the recent calls as it hovered over the name of my uncle.

The banging stopped.

Silence followed – thicker and crueller than the earlier noise.

My head snapped up, my ears strained, every muscle in my body coiled like a spring, waiting for the next strike. My shaky finger hovered over Zio’s name, and I pressed the call button just as the tension became unbearable, my eyes darting towards the door.

The phone rang twice before the click of the answer broke the rhythmic tone.

The words spilt from my mouth in a frantic torrent before he could say anything.

‘Travis is here! He’s in my flat. He—please, you have to help me!’

But then the door exploded inwards. Brutal force tore through the room, ripping the phone from my hand. The frame cracked and splintered under the weight of the small coffee table Travis had thrown against it, sending me tumbling backwards over the edge of the bed. The air knocked from my lungs as I hit the floor. I scrambled to get up, my limbs shaky and uncooperative.

When I looked up, he was there, stepping over the broken door with a terrifying calmness. His wild eyes locked onto mine, gleaming with triumph, his chest heaving as though the destruction had fuelled him. He straightened to his full height, the room seeming to shrink around him.

‘Well, now,’ he drawled, his voice low and mocking, ‘that’s no way to greet someone you were supposed to be bound to before God.’

He took a menacing step forward, each movement measured and heavy with intent. The malice in his smile twisted my stomach into knots.

‘School’s back on,’ he said, with the kind of delight that froze me in place.

The words landed like a verdict – a promise of the hours to come.

And what awaited at the end.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Staring at my swollen knuckles, I sat at the edge of my bed. The events of the night draped over me like a leaden blanket. The shower had done nothing to wash it away. Her mention of donating my blood to Ezio had ripped open another wound, and the kiss I’d nearly surrendered to was salt ground right into it.

It wasn’t just weakness back then. I knew that. It was something twisted. Fucking terrifying. She wasn’t just a colleague, or a friend, or someone I could keep at arm’s length and keep the mask on for. Paula had slipped under my skin with one look, one touch – and now? She was rooted there. There was no going back.

My phone had buzzed earlier with a message from Vinnie asking me where I was. He’d picked up my car, clearly arriving at Obsidian at the worst possible time. I typed a quick response and threw my phone on the pillow as I lay staring at the ceiling.

Paula’s voice, the softness of her lips, the way she trembled when I held her – it was consuming me whole. I’d thought I could compartmentalise her, mentally lock her in a box labelled off-limits, but tonight had shattered that illusion. She was tangled in my fucking thoughts, and no amount of logic or discipline could rip her out of there.

The vibration of my phone cut short my descent into madness. Her name flashed across the screen. My heart jumped, my thumb answering before thought might follow.

Her name was on my tongue, but it never surfaced. Chaos met me on the other end – a muffled crash, ragged breathing, and then her voice. Panicked. Utterly horrified.

The line went dead before I could say another word.

For a moment, I couldn’t move. The air vanished from my lungs, her words echoing like a scream in a tunnel.

Then instinct took over: a sharp spike of adrenaline tearing through me. Underneath it all was the darkness I’d spent years trying to contain. Ezio had planted it there, blow by blow, every time his fist met my mother’s face. His wrath had been so total it seeded a rot inside me – a hunger for violence I never wanted to own.

But now she’d summoned that darkness, and it clawed its way to the surface, demanding release.